


"...the first day of the rest of our lives"

by L_C



Category: Stargate SG-1
Genre: "Unending", F/M, Missing Scene
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-06-06
Updated: 2010-06-26
Packaged: 2017-10-09 23:21:08
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 10,670
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/92704
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/L_C/pseuds/L_C
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The first twenty four hours.<br/>*Winner in the 2008 BlueMoon Awards - second place.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. "2130"

**Author's Note:**

> My third creation and the first one posted to a wider SG audience. Following the airing of "Unending" there was a...um craving? in the DV community to fill in the gap at the end of 'that' scene and Cam seeing Vala emerge from Daniel's quarters. Originally I only did the first two scenes in this piece, but a lot of people wanted more so I gave them the first twenty fours hours after 'that' scene...and of course even after that there were still people wanting more,lol but I resisted the temptation.  
> And it's comes in at over 10K words so I'll post it in chapters.  
> Each chapter title is the military time when the scene takes place.

**2130** 

He knew her taste. Interlaced now with the familiar Earth nuances of coffee and toothpaste, but in the background the faint foreign spice essence still ingrained in his memory from the first time. The sensation was the same too, full and warm.  It was the attitude that was different; gone was the hard aggressive edge. This was soft, hesitant, and held the promise of becoming his own personal addiction. He pulled away slowly, reluctant to leave the sweetness, but he had to know that this wasn’t some new game of hers.  The expression of dazed bliss on her face surprised him.  She slowly opened her eyes; a glow of soft pleasure in them brought a rare small smile to his mouth. 

“You better not be messin’ with me,” a raise of his eyebrows, and a faint change in his voice questioned if she was sincere, warned that she would never be forgiven if she wasn’t, and issued an invitation to continue.

She took the invitation and pressed her mouth to his with a passionate intensity that propelled them down to the bed’s surface. He wondered momentarily whether she was trying to make this a control thing again but then her tongue, soft and teasing, slid into his mouth and all the blood in his brain rushed southward.

 His next clear thought was the realization that she had his belt buckle undone. He pulled her hands away from his pants and pulled his mouth away from the honeyed warmth of hers.

“N...no,” was the first word he could manage, “begin there and I’ll be done before you even get started.”

A look of uncertainty passed over her face. The reason for it dawned on him slowly.

“Quetesh only did this to control people didn’t she? And with anyone since then it’s still only been about control or out of boredom…has it ever been about being with someone you care for?”

She looked away from the intensity of his eyes, focusing on her hands folded in his against his chest. “Tomin.”

“Ah,” he ignored the slight twist in his gut that name usually caused,  “Still, he would have been so amazed that a beautiful woman like you would want to be with him that he’d let you take the lead.”

She stared at him. “Beautiful?”

He released her hands to lay one of his along her cheek. “Yes, you are.”

“But why have you never said…”

Daniel shrugged. “Easier to stay at arm’s length from you if I don’t admit certain things out loud.” he paused, drawing a lazy thumb across her bottom lip. “Convince me Vala,” he lightly traced her lips with the tip of his finger, “that you’re here for something more,” his mouth hovered just over hers, “than relieving boredom,” he captured her bottom lip between his for a teasing moment, “let me do this my way.” he covered her mouth fully with his, the tenderness an echo of the first one, but with an intensity that deepened as his arm curled around her waist, pulling her close against him.

Vala leaned into the kiss, sliding her hands over the hard planes of his chest, caressing along the sensuous sweep of neck to settle in the hair at the back of his head. She pushed; against his mouth, thrusting her tongue in to twine with his; against his body, rubbing curves into angles like puzzle pieces, He groaned in the back of his throat. She smiled against his mouth, moving one hand from his neck to stroke lightly along the zipper of his pants. For a moment she thought he’d stopped breathing and then she suddenly found herself flat on her back, Daniel leaning over her, his hands pressing hers into the mattress.

“My way,” he rasped, his eyes a darker blue than she had seen before.

The unexpected emergence of the alpha male made her pulse race. This was the Daniel of their first encounter and the memory of the tall, strong warrior that she couldn’t best always excited her.

She gave him a vague smile, only really paying attention to his mouth just inches from hers.  Pushing up against his hands, she managed to close those few inches to capture his full bottom lip between hers and suck.  His eyes shut and he went completely still, except for a shiver that ran through his entire body. She tucked the knowledge of that reaction away for future reference. A trace of increased pressure from his hands onto her wrists forced her to break the connection.  He opened his eyes and stared at her.

“Minx,” he murmured

She grinned seductively at him. “And you love it.”

“Still not my way though,” he dipped his head to nuzzle at her neck.

“Your way seems kinda slow Daniel,” she turned her head to one side as he placed light kisses down her throat.

“Supposed to be,” he paused to rub the tip of his tongue firmly against the pulse point in her neck.

The sensation made her whimper.  He smiled against her skin.

“You also keep interrupting me,” he went back to the light kisses until he got to the hollow at the base of her throat.

He centred his mouth against the rapidly beating pulse, pushed into it with his tongue and sucked. She groaned out loud.  He repeated the action, eliciting the same response. She tried, without success, to twist away before he could do it a third time.

He lifted his head to smirk at her. “Guess I found a hotspot huh?”

“You’re enjoying this aren’t you?”

“What? Finding what pleases you? That’s what this is…”

Vala shook her head. “No, being in control.”

Daniel suddenly released her wrists and sat back on his heels. He looked at her sadly.

“C’mere.” Extending a hand to pull her up to a sitting position, he slid the other hand into the heavy silk weight of her hair. “That’s not my intention. I’m trying to keep you from short-circuiting this by your obvious inclination to go straight to my crotch,” he moved his hand down through her hair to rest against the curve of her neck, fingers lightly stroking her jaw. “It’s been a very long time since I’ve done this and given that it’s you   I’ve got a hunch I’m not gonna last long so I’m trying to make sure that you’re as close to the edge as possible,” he moved his hand up to cup her cheek, tilting her face directly in line with his. “I wanna show you what this can be between two people who care about each other  …so patience okay, this isn’t a race.”

She nodded with a soft smile.

“Good. Now,” his voice dropped to a new level of velvet intimacy as he slid his hands down her arms to the hem of her shirt, “this needs to come off, as does that other enticing little item underneath.”

She smirked at him. “Enticing? Why, Daniel, I didn’t know you noticed such things.

He ducked his head with a sheepish smile, “Yeah…well…I’ve got just as much of a lizard brain as the next guy…and where you’re concerned it tends to pay rapt attention, when you start showing skin, and right now it wants this,” he tugged at her shirt, “off.”

She grasped the hem of both items lifting up a few inches to expose the smooth skin of her belly. She stopped, smirking at him.

“You do realize that you’ll never again be able to fool me about your more primitive reactions to me.”

“I think it’s time to stop fooling each other about a lot of things,” the rasp was back in his voice.

She pulled both items over her head and dropped them off the side of the bed, fully aware of his eyes intent on her every move.  She didn’t resist the temptation to add an extra sway to her movements as she straightened and seeing Daniel lick his lips made her shiver.

“Lovely,” he breathed, sliding work-roughened fingers down around the curves to cup the soft weight in his hand, “just the way I remember.”

It took her a minute to think beyond the sparks of heat generated by his calloused fingers stroking against her skin to grasp his meaning.

“Daniel.”

“Hmmm.” his response was distracted, more intent on the effect grazing his thumbs across her nipples had than on anything else.

“Are you saying you didn’t keep your eyes closed the whole time?”

He looked at her, mischief in his eyes and what Vala could only describe as dirty smirk playing over his mouth.

He leaned into kiss her. “Guess I lied.”

She pulled back from him for a moment and laughed. “Daniel Jackson, you are such a fake.”

He grinned, sliding a hand through her hair at the back of her head to bring her mouth to meet his, “I’m a guy, what can I say.”

She melted into his caresses, losing herself in the sensation of his mouth on hers, passionate and demanding now and the palm of his hand skimming over her nipples making them hard, aching peaks.

Dazed and more than little breathless Vala finally pushed away from him, reaching for his pants again, her fingers stroking over the hard evidence of his arousal,  “…and my female lizard brain says you need to be naked.”

He didn’t remove her hand this time, just looked at her with his head tilted to one side.

“Compromise?”

She waited, only to have him hand her his glasses.

“What?!” she shot him a look of half disbelief and half amusement, “You get me half naked and I get your glasses?”

He chuckled, “You’re closer to the nightstand,” he pulled his shirt over his head and dropped it to the floor, “I just wanted you to put them there out of the way…wouldn’t want them to get broken now would we?”

She barely heard his request; the male physique in front of her had all her attention.

“Vala.”

“Hmmm…”She tore her eyes from drinking in his solidly muscled chest and arms to meet his faintly amused gaze.

“My glasses? On the nightstand please?”

“Oh…yeah…”

She lay back on the bed, reaching one arm back to slide the glasses onto the nightstand.  She started to sit back up. Daniel, suddenly stretched out beside her, kissing and nipping at her neck, changed her mind.

“Move back further,” he murmured against her skin.”

She squirmed backward only to stop when she realized he hadn’t moved with her. She leaned up on her elbows to look at him situated a few inches lower than her giving him access to her breasts without even leaning down.

“Think you’re smart don’t you?”

He shot a brief sly sideways glance at her. “I am,” he deadpanned, dipping his head to flick at her nipple with his tongue, “I have three…” he blew across the surface watching it pucker and harden, “PhDs…” he repeated the action, “And…” the flick became a slow lick, “I can say…” he skimmed the palm of his hand over the other nipple until she couldn’t breath, “I want your sex or something similar…” the lick became a series of long, slow laps that made the nipple quiver and Vala moan, “…in 23 languages plus 2 dialects…” he rolled the other nipple between his thumb and forefinger, twisting gently. Vala gasped, arching her back to thrust her breast closer to his mouth, “…only you will understand.” he took the hint, settling his mouth over her nipple, repeatedly flicking with his tongue and sucking.

Somewhere in a corner of her mind not fogged with lust for him, she wondered about the 2 dialects and then his hand slid into her pants. Warm, nimble fingers stroking over swollen surfaces made her forget how to think. She lay back down, trembling under his touch. The same agile fingers sliding into her and out again made her forgot how to speak. She twisted and squirmed under the burning ache gathering between her legs, almost crying when he moved his hand away to push her pants over her hips.  She leaned up, resting against his shoulder for balance as he removed the last of her clothing.  For a long, quiet moment Vala watched him glide his hands over her bare skin.  The caress was loving, almost reverential. When he moved his hand between her legs again, she stopped him. 

Daniel turned sapphire eyes to her.

She shook her head. “All of you?”

At the first touch of her mouth he stopped her with a gentle finger tilting her gaze up to meet his.

“Too intense.  I won’t be able to stay with you.”

She stilled her movements, leaving her hand wrapped around his warm, rigid flesh.

He touched his mouth to hers in brief, silent thanks. Drawing back he gazed at her for a long moment.

“Tell me please, right now, “ he whispered in a gentle tone of love, longing and unease, “that you’re not playing?”

Vala lifted a hand to lie along his cheek. “My Daniel.  I don’t think I was ever playing…you were the only reason I came to Earth.”

Relief, love and desire washed over Daniel.  He brought her up into his arms and kissed her, slowly, deeply.  His breath caught when her hand slipped between them to caress him.  For a several moments he allowed himself to sink into the pleasure of her touch.  Finally with a stifled groan, he pulled away.

“O…okay, continue and,” he looked at her, eyes dark and hooded and the rasp back in his voice, “neither of us will happy…”he paused, a small wry smile pulled at his mouth making the dimple in his cheek flutter, “well actually I would be momentarily, but that would be just self-indulgent and make me not much different than anyone else you’ve been with.”

Vala shook her head, “Daniel,” she tugged at his arm, gesturing to the bed behind them, “…shut up.”

He flashed a grin, “Umm…right…shutting up now.”

He followed her down to the bed surface until he was stretched out between her legs.

In silence he watched her eyes slide shut as he pushed into her, the same earlier expression of bliss settling over her face.

She grazed her hands up his arms to his shoulders, savouring the solid swell of his biceps under her fingers. ““Tell me again, why we haven’t done this before?” she asked as he slowly began to rock against her.

“Because I couldn’t get you to be honest with me about your feelings…any feelings about anything.” he dipped his head to trail his tongue down her neck, stopping to suck against the rapidly beating pulse point.

She moaned softly, “Ohhh…okay…honestly,” she began to move with him, falling into his slow rhythm as if by instinct, “I honestly don’t ever want to stop doing this with you.”

He laughed softly, the vibration against her skin made her shiver. “What about food?”

“Well I’m sure we could provide each other with something to eat.”

Daniel paused from trailing kisses down across her chest to glance at her, an odd glitter in his eyes that she had never seen before.

“Later.”

The combined effect of his blatant innuendo, a hard thrust and his mouth tugging at her breast made her laugh, gasp and arch against him at the same time.

“Why Daniel, did you just make a suggestive remark?” she murmured against his ear.

“Vala.”

“Yes darling.” she nipped at his earlobe.

“Shut up.”

“Yes darling, shutting up now.” she dragged her tongue down his neck, stopping to suck at his pulse point.

He growled low in his throat, quickening the pace between them.

Then there was silence, save for the rustling of bed sheets, the sound of body moving against body and their increasingly laboured breath.  Daniel stilled suddenly, leaning his forehead against her shoulder, his voice tense and heavy.

“Can’t…hold this Val…sorry…”

“Then don’t.”

She wound her legs over his hips, holding him tight against her as his movement became urgent and rough, igniting the burning ache into a firestorm.  She gasped, clutching at his shoulders, arching into his final thrust.  They came together, hard and fast, shuddering against each other, voices blending in erratic, breathless groans.

Hearts slowed and breathing fell into rhythmic unison as they rested with each other in the quiet.

Daniel leaned up on one arm, brushing hair off her face with gentle fingers.

“Still disappo…”he stopped suddenly his fingers encountering moisture at the corners of her eyes, “are you crying?” his brow furrowed with concern, “did I hurt you?”

“No silly, of course not.”

“Then why?”

She shrugged vaguely, “Keeping my eyes shut too long makes them water.”

“Vala. Don’t hide from me please, especially not here like this,” he whispered.

She shrugged again, closing her eyes against his intent blue gaze.

He studied her. “Not what you’re used to?”

She shook her head.

“It’s better this way?”

She nodded.

“Thought so…now you understand why I refused the ‘wham bam’ one time thing with you?”

She opened her eyes to smile at him.

He dropped a kiss on her nose, “Good, I’m glad,” he shifted position abruptly, “Okay time to move now otherwise we’ll have a wet spot to sleep on.”

He leaned up on both hands, squinting at the nightstands. Suddenly he dropped his gaze back to Vala a familiar frown creasing his forehead.

She touched his arm. “Daniel? Please don’t frown at me like that in this situation.”

He focused on her, the trace of unease in her voice grabbing his attention.

“What…oh God no Vala…”he gave her a light kiss, “sorry…I just realized two things. One, I can’t see the Kleenex and; two, we need Kleenex because we didn’t have any protection…”the frown deepened, “I’m sorry…us…we…this” he leaned his forehead against her shoulder and sighed, “just completely unexpected…”

She kissed his cheek. “Daniel…it’s not a problem.”

He raised his head, quirking a questioning eyebrow at her.

She smiled, “Really. I promise. Once we’re comfortable I’ll explain.”

He returned her smile with a nod, easing away from her to snag his glasses off the nightstand and managing to locate the tissues at the same time. 

He returned to the subject again once she was comfortably nestled in beside him with his arm around her.

“So why is it not a problem?” he asked drowsily

When she didn’t answer immediately, he cracked an eye open to slant a glance down at her. She was staring off into space, her lips pressed together in thought.  Surprised that she seemed unsure and perhaps a little embarrassed, he waited.

 “After…after Adria was born things didn’t return to what would have been normal for me.  Dr. Lam gave me pills that solved the problems,’ she glanced over at him, “…which I believe is a another purpose of the pills but not the main one.”

“Ah.” he nodded in understanding. “And Sam can recreate them for you?”

“She already has a couple of times.”

“Thanks, that’s a relief to hear. I can’t imagine bringing a child into this situation. The implications are mind boggling,” he paused to yawn, “Sleep though I can imagine.”

Vala patted his chest, “Right, sleep, good idea,” she sat up, moving to the edge of the bed.

His arm snaked around her waist, “Where are you going?”

“My own quarters.”

He tugged her back down beside him. “Nope.”

“But the others…”

“We’ll deal with them when we have to; for tonight this is where you sleep.”

She settled again in the protective circle of his arm.  Content and at ease with each other, sleep came swiftly.

 


	2. 0545

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Nothing to add to the previous A/N. The chapter title indicates the time...so this chapter takes place at 5:45 AM.

A soft hand settling on his arm woke him.  Daniel opened his eyes and questioned his state of mind.  Had he been insane for the last two years and just regained his sanity last night or was it just since last night that he had become insane.

Vala opened her eyes and gave him a sleepy smile. He smiled back, wondering if he could be insane if he was this content.

“Hi,” her voice was husky with sleep

“Hey,” he kissed her nose, “Howja sleep?”

“Uh okay,” she yawned, “…’cept for this guy pestering me for sex at 3am,” she gave him cheeky grin, moving to snuggle against him.

He dropped his gaze to where she was pressed against him. “Yeah…well that was…”

She put a finger on his lips. “Daniel, don’t you dare apologize. I think I’ve experienced a side of you that no one else has and I am honoured.”

He kissed the fingertip “Oh I wasn’t gonna apologize. I was gonna say that was in response to you not being able to keep your hands off me at midnight,” he felt her hand reach down to caress him, “…much like now.”

He shifted onto his back and closed his eyes, allowing himself to succumb to the pleasure of her hand touching, stroking over rapidly hardening flesh.  He inhaled sharply, arching into the sensation of her mouth closing over him.  Movements of her mouth and tongue drew soft moans from him.  When he began to thrust back she pulled away, rising to straddle his hips.  Slowly she lowered herself onto him, eyes closing, she savoured the feel of him buried deep inside her.

Vala leaned forward on her hands “Do you know how long I’ve waited for this?” she murmured beginning to move. 

He smiled without opening his eyes. “To the day.”

Images of that first encounter and everything else they had been through together since then flashed through her brain as she watched her movements send flickers of emotion and pleasure chasing across his face. Cherished, familiar face that lived in her soul, that inhabited her dreams when she was scared, that had become her only constant through the turmoil of the previous three years.  Always it was his face, his eyes, his voice that was her anchor, her source of hope that life could be better, that she could do better and when she was completely lost it was his face, his eyes, his voice that she recognized as home.

She leaned down, kissing him with an open tenderness that brought a faint moan from him.  He pulled out of the kiss, looking at with her darkening eyes.

“God Vala, if you had kissed me like that last night instead of going straight to my belt, I wouldn’t have yelled at you.”

Her response was to lean in again, catching his bottom lip between hers in a series of soft teasing caresses. He made low noises of mounting frustration before finally tunneling his hands through her hair to hold her mouth steady against his as he deepened the kiss and quickened their movement.

Gasping with the need for air and the urgency building between them, they broke apart.  Daniel slid his hands over her shoulders, down her sides to settle them at her waist.

“Up,” he rasped, his fingers splaying across her belly to support her as she straightened.

He watched her move above him. “You are so beautiful,” his hands slipped away from her waist to stroke over her torso, his eyes following the movement. “I deserve a reward for keeping my hands off you as long as I have.”

She leaned down with a seductive smile. “How ‘bout I be your reward?”

“Yeah that works,” he murmured as her mouth settled over his.

His hands glided over her shoulders, down her back to caress her bottom, his fingers sporadically straying far enough to touch the taut, tender spot where they were joined. She groaned into his mouth, her movement becoming more urgent.  She pulled away from him to sit up again.  When she slipped her hand down to stroke herself the last of his control disappeared. He seized her hips to hold her tight against him as he matched his movement to hers. Leaning up towards her, he grazed her breast with his mouth.  His short, fast movements and his teeth scraping over her nipple finished her.  She shattered around him, a wave of nerve-numbing sensation swept over her pulling his name from her in a long stuttering groan.

The pulsing of her body around him brought him to the end.  He pushed hard against her, clutching at her waist, white-heat ripped through him leaving him trembling, her name and whispered endearments in languages she didn’t recognize spilling from his lips. He slumped back onto the bed, his hands on her waist bringing her down with him.

“Wow,” was the first word Vala could say.

“Indeed,” was Daniel’s laughing, muffled-against-her-shoulder response.

In one of their sporadic inexplicable moments of knowing the other’s thoughts she nodded, understanding that they were too new and fragile together for the weight of those words. She laid her head on his chest and closed her eyes.

The pinging of the alarm on Daniel’s watch brought them out of the light doze they had fallen into. 

“You should go.” Daniel mumbled against her hair.

“Mmmhmmm.” Vala’s vague reply was followed by several moments of her not stirring.

“Vala, you should go before the others really start moving,” his hands at her waist eased her off him onto the bed.

She snuggled against him, running a lazy hand over his chest and stomach. “There’s a problem.”

“Which is?”

“You’re naked,” she extended her arm to brush her hand over the faint furring on his thighs.

He laughed softly. “So if I get dressed you’ll get moving?”

She made another evasive noise of non-agreement, felt the loss of his warm skin under her hand and the mattress shift as he swung out of bed. At the sound of a zipper being fastened she opened one eye.  He stood by the bed, clad in a pair of faded jeans. “Better?’

She shut the eye and shook her head. “..still a problem.”

“And that would be?”

Vala turned her head into the pillow to hide her smirk. “…not naked anymore.”

Daniel made a sound of affectionate exasperation and seized her upper arms. “C’mon. Up! No more excuses,” he pulled her to her knees.

His hands settled on her shoulders as her arms slipped around his waist.  The kiss that followed was soft and tender and neither one seemed to want to end it.

“Daniel?” Vala finally said against his mouth.

“Hmmm?” he left the kiss to begin a trail of them along her jaw.

“Ummm…wasn’t I supposed to be leaving?” she tilted her head back and to the side as he continued the kisses down her neck.

“…there’s a problem,” he murmured into her throat.

“And that is?”

“You’re naked.”

She giggled. “I think I’ve heard this conversation before… I guess I should get dressed then?”

“Mmmhhmm,” the kisses were now moving along her shoulder.

“Could you get my clothes for me?”

“Mmmhhmm,” the kisses continued down her body and up again as he squatted to retrieve her clothes and then drop them beside her on the bed.”

He took a step back, the caress of his hands replacing the kisses.

She threaded her arms into the camisole and pulled it over her head, feeling Daniel tug it down around her, his fingers lingering over her curves. He leaned into kiss her again.  She put a gentle restraining hand on his chest.

“Darling as much as I love that you keep kissing me, I was supposed to be getting dressed wasn’t I?”

He smiled softly. “Right…you were,” he took a few steps back. “I’ll wait at the door.”

Doing up the fastener of her pants and pulling on her shirt, Vala turned to go.  She couldn’t help smiling at Daniel, leaning against the wall near the door, his hands shoved deep in the pockets of his jeans, head bowed, eyes closed; he looked like he was asleep. She sidled up to him and pressed herself to him.

“Did I wear you out darling?”

He cracked a lid open and regarded her with one brilliant blue eye. “Nope, just trying to give you a bit of privacy.”

A skeptical smirk spread across her mouth.

Shrugging, he looped his arms around her waist and stood. “Yeah well it sounded convincing in my head.”

She laughed softly, the sound fading away as they gazed at each other. In less than 12 hours everything between them had changed and once she stepped out the door nothing would be the same again.

“We’ll need to talk about last night you know.”

She gave him a brilliant smile “Oh absolutely, we can talk about how amazing the sex was and then we can do it again.”

“Vala, you know that’s not what I meant.”

She looked down at her hands resting against his chest. “Really Daniel, it’s no big deal and look where it got us.”

He sighed, “It is a big deal Vala.  I hurt you very deeply and I don’t want you sloughing that off as unimportant…because it isn’t,” with a gentle finger under her chin he tipped her face up to his, “and you’re not. So after dinner we’ll find a semi-public…”

“Semi-public?”

He raised an eyebrow. “And how much serious talking are we likely to be doing if we’re here.”

She smirked. “Oh and what would we be more likely to be doing?”

“I’m sure you can figure that out on your own.  Now, time for you to go and time for me to find coffee, “ he paused, his hand hovering over the door activation button, to give her a soft, lingering kiss. “see ya later.”

The door opened and she stepped into the corridor, turning slightly to give him a playful wave as the door closed. Vala stopped briefly before heading to her own quarters to gather herself, straighten her shirt and make her hair look somewhat normal.  It was at that moment she realized she wasn’t alone in the corridor.

 

 

 

 


	3. 0730

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The results of Cam and Vala crossing paths outside Daniel's door...time is approx 7:30 AM

**0730**

“So I don’t know if it’ll work, but I think it’s worth a try.”

“Will you require assistance?”

“I’m not sure yet…” Sam stopped in mid-sentence, startled by Cameron dropping into the seat beside her to stare at she and Teal’c.

“And good morning to you too Cam…something on your mind?”

He blinked at her, “Uh yeah good morning,” he looked from Sam to Teal’c and then back to Sam, “So we’re all agreed right that Jackson and Vala aren’t involved with each other?”

“I’ve never seen any indication…other than that overpowering electricity between them of course.”

“Nor have I.”

Cam nodded. “Well, I think” he stood up, “things have changed.”

There were a few beats of silence during which he found his mug and filled it with coffee.

“Cameron?”

Taking slow sips of the hot liquid, he turned back to face his friends.

“I reversed my run this morning…so instead of passing Jackson’s quarters at the start I passed it near the end. I was a couple of yards beyond his door when I heard it open.  I was gonna go back and hassle him for not running this morning when Vala stepped out.”

Sam shrugged, “ It’s not completely unheard of him to gave her refuge from her nightmares…actually it’s not unheard for any of us to do so.”

“Refuge?” Cameron snorted a laugh, “Well I suppose it could have started like that, but she looked like she had been…”

“Been what Cameron?”

“Like she had been…”he grasped for words, “Awww hell…thoroughly sexed.”

Neither Sam or Teal’c actually shot liquid out their noses, but Sam did spray the table with coffee and Teal’c choked on his juice.

“You are,” Teal’c managed around small coughs, “certain ColonelMitchell?”

“Well, the only way to be certain is to ask, but I know that look.”

“What look Cam?” Sam moved  a box of cereal to swipe at the tabletop with paper napkins.

Cam stared down at his cup, his face taking on a faint tinge of pink. “Well you know,” he fiddled with his spoon, “that sorta dazed, dreamy look with the hair thing goin’ on.”

“Hair thing?” Sam went to refill her cup.

“Yeah…a woman’s hair kinda goes,” he gestured around his head to describe his words. “flat at the back and pouffy at the sides when she’s been…um…”he looked down at this cup again,”…laying down…for…awhile…” he trailed off into silence.

“And that was ValaMaldoran’s appearance when you saw her?”

Cam looked up at his teammates. “Uh yeah and she was still straightening her clothes…hell I think she might have been limping too.”

That started another round of coughing from Sam and Teal’c, which was quickly stifled by General Landry entering the room.

“Who’s limping Colonel Mitchell?”

Cameron swallowed his entire mouthful of coffee at once, but managed to not choke.

He and Sam sprang to attention.

“General Landry Sir! Good morning. How are you sir?”

“Fine thank you and good morning to you all,” he glanced around at the three teammates, “At ease Colonels,” he directed his attention to Cameron, “Now, who’s limping?”

Cam cleared his throat, “Well I don’t know for sure sir, but I thought Vala might have been when I saw her a little while ago.”

The General’s heavy eyebrows rose in surprise. “You’ve seen Vala already this morning? Unusual for her to be moving around this early isn’t it?” he looked carefully at the three people sitting at the table, “speaking of unusual…isn’t it also unusual for Dr. Jackson to not be here by now?”

“Right behind you General.”

Landry turned, stepping back slightly to focus on Daniel standing behind him.  There was nothing unusual about the archaeologist’s appearance, he normally looked scruffy and bleary until his required morning intake of caffeine, but there was a distracted, weary air about him that had the three in the room who knew his moods as well as they knew their own, exchanging small amused smiles.

“Looking a little rough this morning Dr., not sleep well?” Landry observed as Daniel skirted around him and headed for the coffee.

“Uh, no, it was kinda fitful, kept waking up and then it took a while to get back to sleep.”

With his back to the rest of the team he didn’t see Cam shoot a playful smirk at Sam and Teal’c.

“Geez, I hate when that happens…someon...thing keeps waking ya up,” they all watched Cam’s mis-said word make Daniel hesitate as he doctored his coffee, “then there’s all this tossin’ and turnin’,” again Daniel’s actions hesitated as the amusement in Cam’s voice sunk in, “before you’re relaxed enough to go back to sleep.”

Daniel turned to look directly at his friends with narrowed eyes. He was met by Cam’s bland expression, Sam smearing jam on a piece of toast and Teal’c tearing a cinnamon roll apart.

“Uh…yeah, right…anyway I’m going back to bed for awhile,” he headed for the door, taking sips of his coffee as he moved.

“Good idea, Maybe whatever was waking you up before won’t be a problem now.”

Daniel stopped in the doorway throwing a glance over his shoulder at Sam who was calmly eating toast.

“Um…yeah…” he turned to go.

“And Jackson…”

Daniel stopped again.

“…if you see Vala before we do, tell her I’m concerned about the way she was limping when I saw her earlier.”

Daniel whirled around, the liquid in his mug almost sloshing over the edge.

“You saw Vala this morning and she…she was limping?” he stared at Cam, “but she was fine when I saw her a lit…” bafflement made him stumble over words, “l…last night.”

Cam shrugged, “Guess it was something that happened over night.”

Daniel frowned, “Yeah guess so,” he turned to leave but stopped again, “and if you guys see her before I do ask her to come and get me up before lunch,” he stopped talking suddenly, shut his eyes, shook his head and heaved a big sigh, “yeah just tell her that.”

He walked away then, leaving his teammates sharing barely suppressed laughter.

 

 

General Landry sat down with the remaining three, and waited for the laughter to stop.

“Alright people, care to tell me what’s going on?”

“Well General, I did see Vala this morning and she did seem to be limping and she was coming out of Jackson’s quarters.”

Landry stared at Mitchell. “Are you saying she spent the night with him?”

“Yes sir I believe she did.”

“Well,” Landry reached for the sugar,  “she does suffer from nightmares, perhaps…”

Cameron snorted a laugh, “With all due respect sir, I didn’t get the impression it was nightmares she was having.”

Landry sat back in his chair and looked at them, “I see and what do you all think about this development?”

“We haven’t had a chance to talk about it much yet…we’re really only absorbing this as you are, but I don’t think any of us, “ Cameron glanced at Sam and Teal’c for confirmation of agreement, “ are surprised. You know as well as us there’s been a…um…”Cam grasped for a word, “an electrical charge between them from the beginning.”

“Yes and it’s especially hard to ignore when they’re arguing,” Landry paused, studying the three closely, “could this be a one-time response to one of their arguments?”

“Indeed not GeneralLandry, DanielJackson is a stubborn, and honourable man, he would not allow that to happen unless he was persuaded that ValaMaldoran was seeking the same permanence he required.”

Landry nodded along with the other two in agreement, “ A fair assessment I believe Teal’c, but there is the matter of the regulations against teammates being involved with each other.  While’s it not punishable for civilians by court martial, it’s enforceable by canceling job contracts.”

“With all due respect General, given the current situation I don’t think we’d be able to keep them apart if we tried, “ Sam poked at the toast crumbs on her plate, “and frankly I don’t want to. They’ve struggled so long to reach this point that I think we should just let them be.  It’s not as if it’s a threat to the team dynamic ‘cuz we’re not in that kind of situation.”

“I agree sir and who knows if they’ve got the proper outlet for that electrical charge maybe we won’t have to listen to as many arguments”

Landry laughed, “Well yes, there’s that. And what about Vala limping?”

“We will need to remind DanielJackson the meaning of the word moderation.” Teal’c offered quietly.

That started another round of laughter.

Landry got up to leave, “Fine then, we’re all agreed to leave them be, but when we get home we’ll need to reassess the situation,” he paused in the doorway, staring off in space for a moment, “Do you know I believe when we get home, I, “ he looked back at the other and smiled, “ will have won Siler’s betting pool.”

 

 

 

 


	4. 1210 & 1420

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> These originally were two separate chapters but they are so short I figured I'd post them as one  
> So time is 12:10PM and 2:20PM.

**1210**

 

The door slid open.

“Hallo darling, “ Vala sauntered across the room, stopping directly in front of him, one arm slipping around his waist, the other hand straying down the front of his jeans. “as requested I’m here to get you up before lunch.”

“Ya know,” Daniel rubbed the towel over his head then dropped it do the bed, “as soon as those words were out of my mouth I knew how you were going to take it.”

She grinned wickedly, her fingers lightly stroking over the zipper, “Well how could I resist such a delightful invitation?”

“It wasn’t an invitation Vala, it was a simple request to come and get me in time for lunch, so enough please,” he removed her hand, turning away to retrieve a comb from the dresser. Stepping in front of the full-length mirror on the closet door to pull the comb through his hair, he glanced at her reflection in the mirror, barely noticing that she was suddenly more subdued than when she first entered.

“Were you aware that Mitchell saw you this morning.”

She shrugged, staring at the carpet. “Yeah I knew.”

Daniel took a shirt from from a dresser drawer to pull it over his head. “So why did he think you were limping?”

“I have no…oh wait,” the puzzlement cleared from her voice, “as I was turning away from him a muscle in my hip cramped and made me step funny until it let go, guess that’s what he saw.”

“Ah, that makes more sense…I didn’t think we had done anything that strenuous.” he pulled a pair of socks from the dresser and sat down to put them on.

“So I guess the others know then?”

He roamed the room, scanning for his shoes. “Um yeah, unfortunately.”

“Unfortunately Daniel?”

He bent to retrieve a shoe from where it was just tucked under the bed, sitting down on the opposite side of the bed from her to put it on. “I was hoping to ease them into this change between us over two or three days so they wouldn’t think that being here has driven us completely insane.” he finally snagged the other shoe from under the dresser.

She jumped up heading for the door. “Oh, that makes perfect sense because yes of course you’d have to be completely insane to have those types of feelings for me.”

She was gone before he even got his shoe on.

 “Vala…wait,” he pulled the shoe on and leapt for the door, “that wasn’t…”

He stopped in the corridor in time to see her enter the elevator.

When he arrived in the mess she had already settled in a chair at the end of the table furthest from where they usually sat together. He took his seat beside Cam and reached for the makings of subs.

Lost in his own awareness that he had hurt her again he didn’t realize the strained silence between them had settled over the entire group.  He caught her eye as she was getting up to leave and for a moment he saw the shimmer of tears, then the moment was gone and her grey eyes were cool and expressionless.

Soon after he left also.

The other four watched him disappear into the corridor.

Sam sighed shooting a look at Cam, “Well so much for your fewer disagreements theory.”

 

**1420**

“Daniel?” Samantha leaned against the door frame watching her best friend. “Why are you here?”

He didn’t take his eyes off the display he was perusing, “I hope that’s a rhetorical question Sam, ‘cuz my brain’s too tired right now for a philosophical discussion.”

“Then doing this probably isn’t productive either is it?”

He stared at the words hovering in the air around him. It was doubtful that she wanted to hear him say he using the database to distract his brain from replaying the images of the previous night over and over again.

He shrugged. “Guess not.”

She moved the translucent control stone to the shut down the display. “Then go talk to Vala…she thinks you’re mad at her and are having second thoughts.”

He turned towards Sam, “I’m not mad at her…I’m just….”

“Having second thoughts?”

Daniel crossed his arms over his chest and dropped his gaze to the floor. “Yes…no,” he shook his head, “I don’t know…it felt so right last night…but today nothing has changed…when she came to get me at lunch she did exactly what I thought she would.”

“Which was?”

 He shook his head, taking off his glasses to rub the bridge of his nose. “Between her and I, Sam, sorry. Suffice to say it just makes me question whether she can take me or us seriously enough to make it work or if she’s going to continue to play games.”

“Hmmm...”

He put his glasses back to look at her. “And what is that supposed to mean?”

Sam began to roam the room, “I’m not sure that her taking you seriously is the only issue here,” she stopped to look directly at him, “Do you take her seriously?”

He frowned, “Huh?’

She resumed wandering the room. “You didn’t see her when she came to breakfast. She had obviously taken care to look stunning…for you. She was happy and not that frantic bounciness…it was a calm, settled happy, like she had found where she belonged and then she spent two hours trying to help me figure out how to get home…two hours Daniel…no fidgeting, not a word about being bored…she was serious and focused.,” she stopped beside him, placing her hands on his arm, “she wants to go home so she can be with you in our real lives…I’m pretty sure she’s always been serious about you.”

“She said last night that I was the only reason she came to Earth. Why am I only finding this out now Sam?  Why couldn’t she have told me that before?”

“You did an excellent job convincing her that you weren’t interested and no woman is going to tell a man who she doesn’t think is interested that she’s in love with him…she’ll live with just having his friendship…believe me I’ve been there.”

Daniel put his hand on hers. “Sam…”

She patted his hand. “It’s fine now Daniel, you know that, we figured it out…now you need to go and figure this out with Vala…at least there’ll be one good thing to come out of being stuck here.”

 

 


	5. 1440 & 2050

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And the last two chapters taking place at 2:40PM and 8:50 PM to complete the first day of the rest of their lives together...on Odyssey at least

**1440**

“Hey.”

Vala looked at up at him, cool grey eyes locking with his blue ones. “Oh hello.”

“Could we take a walk?”

“If you wish,” she glanced at Teal’c, “Are we done?”

The Jaffa dipped his head slightly in acquiescence. “We are. I have only to gather the items I require to prepare dinner and then I will be meeting ColonelCarter for a sparring match.”

“Thanks Muscles,” Vala stood up from her seat on a plastic crate and gave a startled Teal’c a quick peck on the cheek. “see ya later.”

“You two will be at dinner I trust?”

Daniel looked at his friend in surprise. “Of course. You’re the only here that can actually cook, I’d never miss one of your meals.”

“Neither would I.” Vala added stopping in doorway beside Daniel.

She looked up at him, the softness in his eyes made her heart do flips.

“Shall I have ColonelCarter recreate a fitting wine to have with dinner DanielJackson?”

Daniel took his eyes off Vala long enough to look at Teal’c and nod.

“Yeah wine would be good.”

He returned his gaze to Vala, holding out his hand as he stepped back out the door.  Ignoring the urge to tuck her hand into his warm, larger one she followed him into the corridor.

Teal’c watched them go, an expression of concern spreading across his usually expressionless face.

The door slid shut. Vala turned on her heel. Daniel grabbed her hand as she moved away from him.

“A walk Vala, not a run, I’m too tired.”

 “Perhaps you should take a nap then.”

“The way I feel right now if I crawl into bed I won’t wake up ‘til tomorrow.”

“And that would be a bad thing how?”

“Well first, I’d miss out on one of Teal’s excellent meals, and second, we need to talk.”

In a flash she was moving out of his grasp. “Really Daniel, if you’re tired, it can wait.”

I’m also very sorry for hurting you last night. I…” he never got a chance to finish.

“Thank you Daniel, apologies accepted.” she gave his chest a quick couple of pats and then moved away from him down the corridor.

He dropped his gaze to the floor and shook his head. With a sigh, he raised his eyes again to her retreating back.

“Vala. Stop. Please.”

Her steps barely paused.  He followed after her, his longer strides quickly bringing him close enough to halt her movement with gentle, firm hands on her shoulders.  She turned to face him, the ambient light showing a shimmer of moisture in her eyes.

“What do you want Daniel…to make me cry like you did last night?”

“No! God, no Vala…I’ll try to never do or say anything again to make you cry like that.”

“Then what?”

He laid a hand along her cheek, tilting her face up to his. “Trust and honesty…it’s all I’ve ever asked you for…and I know it’s hard for you to do that… to trust anyone with your real feelings because no one else has ever cared about them, but I’m not,” he stroked her cheek with his thumb, “Jacek or anybody else. I’m just me and I won’t let you down…so please just be honest with me.”

“And do I get the same honesty from you…Mr-I’m-just-a historian-I-don’t-know-how-to fly-this-ship?”

He frowned as she walked away. “Vala, is that fair? We were complete strangers and you were trying to steal my planet’s only space capable line of defense against the Goa’uld. I had to use any means to keep you from succeeding.”

She came back to him. “Okay then, how ‘bout that odd conversation the five of us had over breakfast before Cam and I left for his reunion about  honouring commitments,” she tapped him on the chest, “that wasn’t just about Tomin and I was it?”

“This is not the moment to remind me you didn’t honour the commitment in the end anyway?” he walked away this time.

“Now where did you get that idea? You never asked me about it?”

He stared out one of the windows at the endless blackness beyond and shrugged. “Mitchell…”

She cut him off with a shriek of outrage. “What! You believed Cameron’s opinion instead of asking me?” she stared at him, “oh wait I get it…of course you wouldn’t ask me ‘cuz I would just lie wouldn’t I?”

“Well it’s not like you don’t have a history.”

“Thank you Daniel…I’ll have you know I haven’t lied like that since the bracelets.”

He turned towards her, crossing his arms over his chest, “No, but there have been plenty of half truths and evasion.”

“Oh,” she walked towards him, “and you haven’t been doing the same thing?” she stopped directly in front of him and peered at him, “so tell me Daniel was that a date or not?”

“By your definition, no.”

“Good evasion there Dr. Jackson…guess we’re even huh?”

She pivoted on her heel and strode away down the corridor.

Daniel watched her walk away, fear twisting in his gut that maybe they really had been through too much to have the emotional strength left to trust each other.

He found her a short time later in the mess, dipping Oreos into milk.  He got his own glass and sat down beside her, taking several cookies from the bag and not from her careful stack of comfort food.

He twisted the cookie apart. “Nice deflection technique,”

She glanced at him with a raised eyebrow.

He worked at removing the cookie filling. “Refocusing the conversation on my behaviour instead of yours…and I get the point by the way…I know I’ve hidden behind half truths as much as you have…I said last night that I was probably still as emotionally unstable as you,” he put the now plain cookie halves back together, dunked them in the milk and ate them, “maybe two emotionally unstable people can find stability with each other?”

Out of the corner of his eye he saw her nod of agreement and a single tear slip down her cheek.

After a few minutes of eating cookies in silence Daniel brushed crumbs off his fingers, turned in his chair to face her and stuck out his hand.

“Hi, I’m Daniel Jackson and you are?

She slid her hand into his and gave him a soft smile. “I don’t know if that’ll work Daniel, we have so much history, there’s…oh what’s the expression,” she paused, “there’s too many suitcases between us.”

Daniel stopped chewing on a bite of cookie to stare at her in confusion, “Suitcases?”

Suddenly he burst out laughing almost choking on the cookie in the process.

 He shook his head. “That’s ‘baggage’ Val, not suitcases…the expression is ‘too much baggage between us’,” with an affectionate smile he leaned in to place a cookie flavoured kiss on her mouth, “thank you.”

“For what?”

“For making me laugh,” he paused, stroking her cheek, “and you’re right we do have,” he couldn’t stop the teasing smirk that twitched at his mouth making the dimple in his cheek flutter, “too many suitcases between us to start again at the beginning…so what do we do instead?”

She took his hand away from her face to clasp it between her two. “I don’t know…leave past behaviour in the past and do better with each other,” she grinned suddenly, “resist the temptation to fall back on our old ways?”

Laughing he pulled her onto his lap. “Smart ass.”

She laughed with him, running a light finger along the neck of his t-shirt, “You know for the record, nothing happened at Cam’s reunion.”

He watched her profile intently. “Nothing?”

She shrugged, “Well there was definitely flirting, but in the end…no…nothing…I just couldn’t…I mean Darrell was nice and he was interested and he reminded me of you,” she looked down at her hands smoothing over his T-shirt, “but he wasn’t you and on top of not wanting the guilt of not meeting your expectations of me, I knew how much it would hurt afterward that I hadn’t been with you and wasn’t ever likely to be,” her voice dropped to a whisper, “everything I’ve done, any changes I made in the last three years have been to be with you.”

He slid a hand along her cheek turning her face towards his. “Thank you, I’ve needed to hear that. I’ve been so afraid that you’ve just been toying with me, that you weren’t interested in anything beyond a casual fling. That as soon as you got bored with me you’d be gone looking for someone new and I’d be left trying…” he closed his eyes and bowed his head, his voice dropping to a whisper, “trying to cope with that hurt again.”

She touched his face with gentle fingers drawing his eyes to hers.

“I’m not going anywhere Daniel. Everything that appealed to me about my previous life pales beside what I’ve got now and you couldn’t get rid of me if you wanted to.”  
He slipped his hand around the back of her neck bringing her mouth down to meet his in a slow, tender kiss. She wound her arms around his neck carding her fingers thru the soft, short hair at the nape of his neck. The kiss deepened and intensified. Hands were freely roaming inside t-shirts when someone in the doorway loudly cleared their throat.

They sprang apart, breath catching in their throats.  Vala with her vantage point over Daniel’s shoulder greeted the new arrival.

“General Landry…”

Instantly she was aware of several things at once. Daniel was no longer caressing her through her bra, he was looking at her with wide, slightly panicked eyes and he was going to need a few minutes before he could walk around in public. In that moment, with his hair ruffled from her hands, his bottom lip still glistening from where she had been sucking on it and his needing a few minutes before he could walk around in public, he was insanely sexy. She was also aware that making a teasing remark the General would hear about how easily she could apparently get the usually self-controlled archaeologist hot and bothered would be embarrass him and she’d never be forgiven.

“…what a surprise. What are you doing here?” she patted Daniel’s shoulder hoping this would be one of their moments of silent understanding.

The General glanced at them as he crossed the room to the counter with the coffeemaker. “I could say the same.”

“Oh well you know, we were just having a snack,” she gestured at the bag of cookies,      “and talking.”

Landry shot them a look over his shoulder, “Yes I’ve had similar conversations,” he turned back to making fresh coffee.

Daniel finally found his voice, “General…”

Without turning around Landry cut Daniel off with a wave of his hand. “No need to say anything Dr. Jackson.  I am aware of what has gone on since last night and while I was taken aback a moment ago I don’t think I’ve suffered any permanent damage.  Just please don’t make this a habit,” he turned around to find them now sitting in separate chairs.

With his back to them he missed their non-verbal tussle over whether or not Vala should move.  It finally ended with Vala pushing Daniel’s hands off her hips, retaking her own chair, swinging his legs under the table and making an open-arms gesture of ‘see this’ll work” He was still giving her a wary look when he realized General Landry was watching him.

Daniel met his eyes with an overly-bright, tight smile, “Nope, absolutely won’t be a habit.”

“Glad to hear it. Now I wonder,” Landry glanced down at his watch, “where Teal’c is. I’m supposed to be helping him with dinner,” he looked at the other two again, and wondered about the watchful, uneasy expression on Daniel’s face. “Any idea where…”

“I am here GeneralLandry, “ Teal’c strode through the door with a plastic crate of foodstuffs, “ I apologize for my delay, ColonelCarter and I were conferring about a wine for dinner.”

“Wine with dinner tonight is an excellent idea Teal’c, so what are we serving?”

They turned away from the couple sitting at the table to consult the menu and recipes Teal’c had with him.  The two men didn’t pay Daniel and Vala any more attention until Vala announced they were leaving to fall asleep in front of a movie until dinner.

General Landry looked over in time to see Vala vanish through the door.

“That was an odd encounter to say the least.”

“How so?” Teal’c didn’t look away from selecting utensils from a drawer.

“When I arrived here they were…”Landry paused, selecting his words carefully, “well in Earth vernacular they were necking.”

Teal’c turned to the older man with a raised eyebrow. “Indeed.”

“Then once they separated Vala did most of the talking. Dr. Jackson seemed distracted and uncomfortable in the situation.” Landry stopped talking abruptly as a thought occurred. He looked directly at Teal’c with a faint smirk. “I would imagine he was…”

Teal’c added a slight smirk to his own raised eyebrow. “That would be most probable.”

Halfway down the corridor from the door of the mess Daniel stopped Vala with gentle hands on her shoulders.

“Thanks for not making any comments back there,” he jerked his head in the direction of the mess.

“Comments about what darling?”

He closed his eyes, searching for the right words. “My state of being.”

“That would have been rude and embarrassing for you Daniel, I wouldn’t do that.”

He pursed his lips and looked at her intently. “Time was you would have.”

She laid a gentle hand on his chest, “Time was your feelings weren’t particularly important to me. That was then, this is now,” she stepped in to lean against him, “However I do reserve the right to tease you in private.”

He regarded her for a long moment. “Likewise.”

Her eyes widened, the tone in his voice and the glitter in his eyes sent a ripple of heat through her belly.

 “Ya know,” she wound her arms around his waist and rubbed against him, “we don’t have to do that movie, we could go back to my quarters and pick up where we left off.”

“And, you know, that as tempting as that is,” his hands left her shoulders to caress over the front of her t-shirt, “ and believe me it’s tempting, afterwards we’d both be sleeping ‘til tomorrow, so no,” he moved his hands back to her shoulders, “for now we’ll go watch a movie, but after a good night’s sleep,” his voice dropped to a husky murmur, “I promise we’ll pick up where we left off.”

 

**2050** 

Cameron stared at the flickering screen.  Movie night. Must be Tuesday. That was what they had designated the twenty-four hour period they artificially ended with a movie.  At least the movie wasn’t artificial, unlike everything else in this artificial time period.  Although, if they were stuck there much longer they would have to start creating artificial entertainment too.  Cam wondered idly if Sam could rework the Asgard holoimaging technology to create a Star-Trek like holodeck.  Being able to create new and different artificial environments would definitely make existing in this unchanging environment where everything; the food, the drink, the daylight, the passage of time, was artificial, more tolerable.

A soft, snuffling snore refocused his attention on his civilian team members sprawled together at the other end of the couch. Well okay, not ever single thing there was artificial. His friends weren’t and neither was the blossoming relationship between Daniel and Vala, it definitely had it’s basis in their real lives.  It had been clear to everyone around them they had been struggling to reach this point from the moment she first walked through the ‘Gate. It wasn’t clear though what had brought on this sudden change, although Cam was willing to bet an argument had some role in the melt down that rewired their relationship.

The same soft sound again drew Cam’s attention to Daniel and Vala at the end of the couch.  Rewired was an apt description for the change between them.  Like a short circuit that had been fixed, the random sparks and static were becoming a gentle hum.  That had been evident from the way they arrived at dinner, hand-in-hand and quietly talking.  It had also become obvious that they weren’t going to torture everyone else with a new-couple tendency to be all over each other.  Instead there was an sureness of the other’s presence that they didn’t seem to need to be constantly touching..  Even now, sprawled together at the other end of the couch, the only touching was because they were leaning against each other dozing.

The soft snuffling was fast becoming a steady drone.  Cam chucked a small pillow at them, rousing only Vala.

She turned her head to glare at him with bleary eyes.

“What!?”

“Jackson’s gettin’ loud, I can’t hear the movie, take him to bed.”

She blinked at him a couple of times and then smirked.

“So are you ordering me, Colonel Mitchell, to take Daniel to bed?”

With the sound of muffled laughter from the others in the room he grinned at her.

“Yup I s’ppose I am.”

“Oh well in that case, who am I to disobey a direct order.” a Cheshire Cat grin spread across her face and she gave the sleeping man beside a healthy nudge in the ribs.

He only grunted.

Another healthy nudge and he jerked awake against her shoulder.

“Wha…whas goin’ on?”

“Daniel.”

He straightened his glasses, blinked at her, smiled and then slid a hand to the back of her neck to bring her mouth to his in a soft, brief kiss.

“Hey.”

“Hi yourself.  Thought you’d liked to know that Colonel Mitchell has given me a direct order to take you to bed.”

His eyebrows rose. “Oh has he,?” he stood , stretched and held out his hand to pull her up, “Well far be from us to disobey one of  Colonel Mitchell’s direct orders.”

Cam snorted. “Since when?”

Daniel shot a look of amusement at his friend. “Since the outcome of this order Mitchell is going to be much better than getting shot at.”


End file.
